What's the dumbest thing you've ever done or seen done with a power tool?

[Steve Carlton]

Would a gas lawnmower count?

[JavaBrewer]

Rushing with a compound mitre saw to complete a 3 day job...2nd to last base board and I nearly cut my left hand off at the wrist. Lucky for me my neighbor was home and drove me to the hospital as I torqued a t-shirt to stop the blood. That I avoided nerve damage is a miracle.

[LeeH]

Well that would be working many hours into the night on a table saw. I owned a company that installed window grills (mullions). The cuts had to be very precise. When lining up a cut you had to take into account where the interior edge of the saw blade would hit the bar. To speed up the process of making hundreds of cuts we'd use a piece of scrap wood to stop the spinning table saw blade after turning it off before lining the blade up to the next mark.

One night I was working very late and forgot to stop the spinning blade after killing the power. However I did remember to reach down to turn the blade with my hand to get it ready for the next cut! It took me a few seconds to get up the courage to open my eyes and see what I had just done, but I could tell by the cool wet feeling that I was bleeding. Thankfully it was pretty minor as the finger I stuck in the blade got knocked away. I spend a lot of time on that saw over the years and remembered that moment every time I hit the power switch.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

nearly hacked off the right tip of my index finger with a Dremel cut off wheel..

Takes a long time to stop the bleeding with something like that. I just stiched the ends back together and kept it clean.

took months for the nail to grow back..

[jim72911t]

Jeeze, not mine but my boss did manage to put a number U drill (.368in, about the size of a fingernail ) through the tip of his index finger on a Bridgeport one morning. We were trying to finish a project, and ready to go to lunch, so things were a bit frenzied because we were all ready for a margarita with our traditional Friday outing.

Needless to say, the boss man didn't make it to the restaurant that day.

The best part was going back to work later in the afternoon and cleaning the chunks of "boss" off the drill bit and fixture.

We redesgined that fixture BTW.

Jim

[johnco]

while making sign boards for a boat company, I sat a still turning router down in my lap. after waiting a while to see if I had a pool of blood pouring thru my jeans, I dropped them to find a nice little ring cut around the head of my ...... I have some really nice scars on my leg and arm where they were almost cut off after I was run over by a riding lawnmower as a child. broken drill bits and phillip head driver driven thru the finger nail... I've nailed myself to a board with a 2 inch finish nail thru my thumb from an air nailer. twice in one day. the list goes on. I have plenty of scars. I did learn to quit sharpening my pencil with the table saw though

[928ram]

The old air nailer; never done it myself, but I've seen the aftermath a couple of times.

Goes like this: Back up material to be nailed with one hand, hoist up nailer gun in other hand and drive nail thru mutiple layers of material into 1st hand, remove impailed hand from back of stud and jump around cussin and bleeding.

I did once put my self in an akward position while using a chainsaw and managed to cut a nice clean groove into the top of my knee; deep enough to bleed, but no stitches needed.

[masraum]

Originally posted by johnco
while making sign boards for a boat company, I sat a still turning router down in my lap. after waiting a while to see if I had a pool of blood pouring thru my jeans, I dropped them to find a nice little ring cut around the head of my ...... I have some really nice scars on my leg and arm where they were almost cut off after I was run over by a riding lawnmower as a child. broken drill bits and phillip head driver driven thru the finger nail... I've nailed myself to a board with a 2 inch finish nail thru my thumb from an air nailer. twice in one day. the list goes on. I have plenty of scars. I did learn to quit sharpening my pencil with the table saw though

Dude, step away from the power tools. Step back, very slowly. I've got a set of scissors just for you.

[johnco]

working in steel fabrication, carpentry, heavy equipment, etc., I've had quite a few incidents. I'm an accident waiting to happen it seems. I've learned how to sew my own stitches. somehow I got a wood splinter stuck in the middle of my eyeball yesterday. luckily no blood dripping anywhere yet today, but the day is young. now I'm going hump a 300lb a/c unit up to the second story roof. we'll see what happens

[vash]

procon, where do i start?

i started up my brandnew line trimmer (bought a cheapo LAWNMAN from the Hdepot). reved it up, touched it gently to my lawn (frontlawn), and instantly found the lone rock in the grass, and proceeded to hurl it into my trucks windshield. like an effen bullet! my girlfriend almost peed laughing. i decided it was not the right day to do yard work and put the tool down, went into the backyard, to contemplate my error, and the cost of a new windshield, do some cussing. 30 minutes later, went into the garage and found that someone stole it. my turn to laugh, i hope the bastard took his eye out. i replaced it with the same tool, same day. the homedepot guy looked at me, and i said, "dont ask". it ended up being a crap tool, and i gave it to my coworker with a tiny yard. i bought a STIHL, so i can really huck those rocks!

i watched a contractor try to sharpen his carpenter pencil with a SKIL saw. the flying piece his the foreman in the eye. lowbidders!

[kach22i]

I've not finished welding my hovercraft so I might have a new one after today.

Circular saw, guard held back with a rubber band, finished last cut of a long day building office furniture for my office. I put the saw down on the carpet while it was still spinning. Remembering my lease aggreement I took the shredded carpet fibers choped them up, mixing them with Elmers glue and patched 2 inch round area of carpet.

No blood in this story, I'm shamed.

[cowtown]

Working in my garage to turn down a piece of 1/2" thick steel rod in my drill press (which is the wrong tool to start with, but I don't have a lathe). I chucked it up then flipped the press on. I had forgotten it was set to high speed, and as soon as the drill press spun up, the centrifugal force bent the rod out into an L-shape. Still spinning, the machine and the stand it was mounted on started shaking, and I could see the rod was going to launch.

I took cover behind a door and sat there, wondering if the rod projectile was going to take out a Porsche, a window, or me. No way I was going to try to turn the machine off.

I sat for about five seconds, then it launched. Thank God it just made a hole in a wall. That could be fixed.

Learned a lesson that day.

[Hugh R]

Does a 350 V8 count as a power too? Years ago, I was checking out the squeel from a guys fan belt and while I had my finger on the belt, he started the car. My social finger went completely around the alternator pulley with the belt. Luckily the belt was so loose that it came off the pulley and I ended up only losing the finger nail which grew back.

[Tim Hancock]

Cowtown's somehow gives me the biggest chuckle so far.

I have made plenty of helicopters on my drill presses. After each one I chastise myself for rushing and not clamping the work first, then about a month or two later I do it again. I am getting pretty good at moving my hand out of the way and reaching around the back of the press w/out catching my shirt in the mess though!

Years ago I cut halfway thru my thumb while pushing on part I was cutting on a bandsaw w/ out a sacrificial push block.

Slowly passed finger thru belt/pulley on 924 multiple times on same day while pulling belt with other hand.

Left chuck key in lathe and took a shot to the ribs upon start up.

Most of mine are due to impatience and the fact that I do not have a "safety designee" watching every move I make at home like the shop guys at work do!

[Moses]

A guy was cutting some cabinet moulding with a very fine blade on a radial arm saw. He reached across and the spinning blade dropped on his hand, cleanly severing all four fingers right at the base. His wife gathered the fingers and put them on ice. The local hand surgeon reattached them. The guys hand works well, but he's pretty sure the surgeon put his ring finger and index finger in new places.

The emergency room sees a lot of funny accidents with nailing guns. The classic injury is with framing nailers. They shoot LONG nails with a good deal of force. For some reason, framers have a habit of resting the nailer on their knee when they get tired. BLATT! They come in saying it hurts like hell and they can't straighten out their leg. Hard to straighten your leg when your femur is nailed to the tibia.

[dhoward]

Originally posted by kach22i
I've not finished welding my hovercraft so I might have a new one after today.

Only on this board could you read a sentence like that and not raise an eyebrow....
"There are eels in my hovercraft"

[911Rob]

jambed a worm-drive skilsaw into my right thigh about 25 years ago.
72 stitches later....... made for some interesting shark bite stories when I was in Hawaii?

[masraum]

Fark me, remind me to not hang out with you guys when you're working with anything that could be dangerous.

[dtw]

Was working with a small piece of sheetmetal I was fabricating into a patch. After doing the rough-in, I was going back over it with a 4.5" wire wheel in an angle grinder. Didn't have the work well secured, grinder popped it straight at my left eye like a shuriken star, and it made a really awesome THWACK sound as it hit my safety glasses with enough force to pop my head back like a Pez dispenser.

It would have gotten really ugly if I hadn't had those glassees on. I clamp my work more securely now...

[RickM]

I had a run in with my table saw as well. One fingertip later.........

In the emergency room they basically said the tip and nail would grow back. I asked "Do I look like a worm or starfish to you?"

Well, it grew back. I can't even remember which finger it was.